Estimating the burden of irritable bowel syndrome: analysis of a nationwide korean database

Abstract

Background/aims: Management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) imposes a heavy economic burden. This study was to estimate the epidemio-logic features of IBS and to report the IBS burden for the first time in the Korean population.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the National Health Insurance (NHI) system database, which covers the entire pop-ulation of Korea. IBS was defined as diagnostic code -10 in adults with any outpatient clinic visits or hospitalization related to IBS. We excluded diseases that mimic IBS symptoms.

Results: A total of 2.42 million (58.2% female) individuals were identified as patients with IBS, yielding an age- and gender-adjusted prevalence of 5.1% in males and 6.9% in females. The prevalence of IBS increased proportionally with age, with higher medical costs in middle-aged patients. Outpatient clinics were visited by 98.6% of IBS patients, and 1.9% were treated upon admission. Of these patients, 87.6% were given a prescription. Co-morbidities that commonly accompanied IBS included upper gastro-intestinal (36.1%), respiratory (12.3%), musculoskeletal (8.0%) disease, somatoform (4.3%) and depression/anxiety disorders (3.1%). The NHI costs of IBS, which include the NHI covered cost and beneficiary copayment charges, were estimated to be 155 million USD, which accounts for 0.46% of the total NHI costs for the entire Korean population.

Conclusions: According to the Korean national claims database, about 6% of the Korean population seeks medical care for IBS at least once per year. This high prevalence places a large economic burden on the Korean healthcare system, accounting for 0.46% of over-all national medical expenditure.

Keywords: Cost of illness; Epidemiology; Irritable bowel syndrome; Population.

Figure.

Study population: We included all outpatient claims or hospital admissions from the claim database of the National Health Insurance system. We excluded the patients having outliers of extremely no or high medical expenses, younger than 15 years or having diseases that mimic irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.